The rise of artificial intelligence is turning out to be a problem for HP Inc. on two fronts. HP Inc.’s CEO said skyrocketing prices for memory chips will be a “fairly significant” drag on its results for the current fiscal year as the company issued financial guidance that fell short of what analysts had expected. At the same time, he said, customers are investing more in AI, leaving less money to buy new printers. While results for the computer company’s fiscal fourth quarter exceeded forecasts, management said it expects fiscal first-quarter adjusted earnings to be between 73 cents and 81 cents a share. The consensus forecast on Wall Street was 78 cents. For the full fiscal year, the 12 months through October 2026, HP said it expects earnings to be $2.90 to $3.20 a share, compared with analyst expectations of $3.34. CEO Enrique Lores said in an interview with Barron’s that earnings will be affected as memory costs increase in response to rising demand for chips that support artificial-intelligence hardware.

After a positive start and a subsequent fall into negative territory, the Switzerland market recovered and gained in strength as the session progressed on Tuesday to eventually settle on a strong note. The benchmark SMI, which slipped to 12618.25, finished with a gain of 117.51 points or 0.93% at 12771.63, slightly off the day's high. Amrize surged 5.14%. Sika climbed nearly 4% and Galderma Group gained about 3.75%, while Holcim and Alcon both gained about 3.2%. Novartis gained more than 1.5% after US FDA approved the company's Itvisma (onasemnogene abeparvovec-brve) gene replacement therapy to treat spinal muscular atrophy. Julius Baer, Richemont, UBS Group and Kuehne + Nagel ended higher by 1.3 to 2%. Swatch Group, Sonova, Roche Holding, Geberit and Schindler Ps also closed notably higher. Straumann Holding lost 1.88%. Nestle, Logitech International, Givaudan and SGS also closed weak, although with less pronounced losses.

Europe
European stocks closed on a firm note on Tuesday, tracking gains on Wall Street, and amid expectations of an interest rate cut by the Federal Reserve in December. Investors continued to closely follow Ukraine peace stocks, in addition to digesting the latest batch of economic data from the U.S. The pan European Stoxx 600 climbed 0.91%. The U.K.'s FTSE 100 gained 0.78%, Germany's DAX ended stronger by 0.97%, and France's CAC 40 settled with a gain of 0.83%. Switzerland's SMI finished 0.93% up. Among other markets in Europe, Belgium, Czech Republic, Denmark, Finland, Greece, Ireland, Netherlands, Poland, Russia, Spain and Sweden closed on a strong note. Iceland and Norway edged up marginally. Turkiye ended weak, while Portugal closed flat. In the UK market, shares of home improvement retailer Kingfisher surged more than 6% after the company raised its profit outlook. For the third quarter, the company posted sales of GBP 3.252 billion, up 1% from last year. On like-for-like basis, sales grew by 0.9%. Kingfisher expects adjusted pre-tax income of GBP 540 million to GBP 570 million for the full-year, compared with the earlier guidance of GBP 480 million to GBP 540 million. Airtel Africa climbed 6.5%. Burberry Group, Barratt Redrow, Lloyds Banking Group, Natwest Group, Coca-Cola HBC, Mondi, Antofagasta, Howden Joinery Group, British American Tobacco, St. James's Place, Informa, Vodafone Group, Barclays and Games Workshop gained 2 to 5%. Beazley tanked more than 9% after the company warned of growth slowdown. The company has cut its annual insurance written premiums forecast to a growth rate of flat to low single digits from an earlier forecast of low to mid single digits. Easyjet ended 1.52% down, despite reporting better-than-expected full-year operating profit. Intertek Group lost 5.71%. Pearson, BAE Systems, Compass Group, Auto Trader Group and BP also closed notably lower. In the German market, Heidelberg Materials surged more than 6%. Continental, Daimler Truck Holding, Merck, Commerzbank, Infineon, Siemens and Qiagen gained 2 to 3.4%.

United States
After showing a lack of direction early in the session, stocks moved notably higher over the course of the trading day on Tuesday. The major averages all moved to the upside, with the tech-heavy Nasdaq joining the Dow and the S&P 500 in positive territory after an initial pullback. The major averages pulled back off their highs going into the end of the day but still posted strong gains. The Dow jumped 664.18 points or 1.4 percent to 47112.45, the S&P 500 advanced 60.76 points or 0.9 percent to 6765.88 and the Nasdaq climbed 153.59 points or 0.7 percent to 23025.59. With the upward move on the day, the major averages closed higher for the third straight session, further offsetting recent weakness. The strength that emerged on Wall Street may have reflected renewed optimism about the outlook for interest rates following recent dovish comments from Federal Reserve officials as well as the latest U.S. economic data. The Commerce Department released a report this morning showing retail sales in the U.S. increased by less than expected in September, while a separate report released by the Labor Department showed producer prices in the U.S. increased in line with estimates in September. Meanwhile, payroll processor ADP released a report showing U.S. private sector employers shed an average of 13500 jobs per week in the four weeks ending November 8th compared to an average loss of 2500 jobs in the previous four-week period. Housing stocks moved sharply higher over the course of the session, driving the Philadelphia Housing Sector Index up by 4.2 percent to its best closing level in almost a month. The rally by housing stocks came after the National Association of Realtors released a report showing an unexpected jump by pending home sales in the month of October. Pharmaceutical, healthcare and networking stocks also saw significant strength, moving higher along with most of the other major sectors.

Asia
The strong recovery on the US stock markets spilled over to Asia on Wednesday. The upturn was led by the Kospi in Seoul, which gained 2.5 per cent. The Nikkei 225 in Tokyo rose by 2 per cent. The Hang Seng Index in Hong Kong gained just under half a per cent, while the index in Shanghai rose by 0.1 per cent. In Australia, the market rose by 0.8 per cent.

Bonds
In the U.S. bond market, treasuries extended the upward trend seen over the past several sessions. As a result, the yield on the benchmark ten-year note, which moves opposite of its price, slid 3.6 basis points to a nearly one-month closing low of 4.002 percent.

Analysis
UBS raises Galderma to Buy (Neutral) – CHF 190 (138)
UBS raises ASML to EUR 1030 (1000) – Buy
HSBC raises Siemens Healthineers to EUR 60 (56) – Buy

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